Introducing UXalliance Design Maturity Model

Transforming organizations through human-centric design

Why is design-led strategy is important for business?

Design is often seen as one step in the process of creating products and services to end customers. Yet, good design, by essence, is people-centric and focuses as much on the challenges of internal teams as on the needs and expectations of clients. Good design, as a process, has been found to generate better business results as it helps teams identify the right customer pain points and solve them effectively. That is why the obsession with customer experience should be an organization’s core value shared by all employees – and not just by the design team!

What is the UXalliance Design Maturity model?

Though many maturity models exist for disciplines such as User Experience (UX), Customer Experience (CX) or Service Design, the UXalliance maturity model takes on a broader take on design as a mindset and processes throughout an organization, and acknowledges its contribution to business success. The UXalliance Design Maturity model is built around the following main dimensions: Research, Design, People, Culture, Strategy and Metrics.

How can the model be used to assess Design Maturity?

The model provides a framework that indicates what kind of data must be collected to evaluate an organization’s design maturity. To be representative, such an assessment involves stakeholders from a wide variety of departments. Key stakeholders, including employees and clients, will be engaged through in-depth interviews, as well as a self-administered online survey. The data will be used to compute an overall Design Maturity score, as well as individual scores per dimension and sub-dimension.

How can the assessment help optimize Design Maturity?

The Design Maturity assessment results in two deliverables:

The first is a set of observations and actionable recommendations for each of the model’s six dimensions.

Following a prioritization workshop, a roadmap will be created to guide the organization’s design transformation in a more operational way. Such a roadmap typically lists which corrective actions need to be put into place, in which order, with which potential dependencies, as well as who is responsible for it.

What support is available to help implement Design Maturity recommendations?

UXalliance is a global network of leading UX agencies specialized in human-centered design and service design. UXalliance experts can therefore help you optimize both internal and external factors impacting the customer experience, and assist you at every step of your Design Maturity transformation journey.